


Antivirus

by DestinyLeane



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Humor, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-25 21:50:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21363211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestinyLeane/pseuds/DestinyLeane
Summary: Spinel gets sick.But not how you would think.
Relationships: Spinel/Steven Universe
Comments: 13
Kudos: 112





	Antivirus

**Author's Note:**

> I had SO MICH FUN writing this little one shot, you have no idea, I think its absolutely hilarious, so please let me know if you think so too. 
> 
> Also, this was a story idea suggested by a commenter on Baby Sitters, and I just ran with it cause I liked the idea so much.

"You ready? It's a tough one." Steven asked as he shifted in his seat to share his new computer with Spinel.   
Amethyst and Connie had had their turn trying to beat the level he had been stuck on for ages, both turning up with failure, so Steven imagine the gem made to play games couldn't possibly fail at a computer game. 

Spinel nodded and took the mouse in her hand, scooting into the chair as Steven moved aside, she had never even touched earth computers, let alone these 'video games' Steven seemed to enjoy- despite having so much trouble with them. 

"You just move the mouse to move the camera, and then press these buttons here to move the character- and this one to fire your tears." Steven explained leaning over her to point out the jumbled eath letters on the keyboard. Made enough sense. 

The pink gems eyes trailed from the keyboard to the screen as she slowly maneuvered the character through the computer glancing back at her friends for slight reassurance. It wasn't long before Steven noticed that familiar shine in her eyes the moment she got the hang of it.   
He had grown to notice when Spinel was entirely engaged in an activity, particularly a game- especially a game, it was a similar look to when her eyes spiraled, but instead of anger it was concentration. He particularly enjoyed the moments where she became so engrossed in whatever she was doing that she would half mindedly stick her tongue out as though it somehow doubled that concentration. 

"You got this." He smiled, sitting back on his bed to watch alongside Connie. Spinel was already far to emerged to even provide an answer aside from a soft mumble. 

It wasn't an easy level, Waffle was the player character and they had a tendency to be slow, and even though their tears were sticky with syrup it didn't make this Broccoli boss any less formidable. Spinel on the other hand had grown increasingly determined, it was amusing and exhilarating all at once, her quiet audience growing inches closer as they hovered over her while she ruthlessly fought the broccoli.

There was a soft noise, an alert of some kind, but it was drowned out by the sound effects of the game, that is, until the computer began growing increasingly warmer as Spinel began to wear down Broccoli. 

A small window popped up in the corner of the screen, temporarily distracting Spinel from her ongoing stalemate with the vegetable, in a quick attempt to rid herself of it Spinel did what she knew would work and temporarily overided the tiny warning with her own gem.

It did the trick. 

Everyone was on the edge of their seats, watching as Spinel dealt the final blow to Broccoli and the vegetable broke down in tears preparing to hug the Waffle in reprieve. Then there was a noise, a very loud, angry electronic noise that erupted from the computer and several windows popped up into view, cutting away from the final cutscene in leu of atrociously designed advertisements. 

"What's wrong?!" She gasped pulling her hands from the controls, did she break it?  
Connie squirmed her way in front of the computer to evaluate. 

"Steven? Where did you get this game?" She asked slowly as more dings sounded from the computer and even more ads popped up. Steven laughed a little nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. 

"It's free on breakfast101.com?" He answered, hoping it would suffice.   
Connie shook her head, already having the feeling that Steven inadvertently destroyed his computer. 

"Free to download?" She questioned, only hoping he would say no, but the boy sheepishly nodded as he realised his mistake. 

"I think you just downloaded a virus." She explained, "we gotta get someone to get it off now, or you won't have a computer." 

Spinel leaned back in the computer chair, huffing in disgruntled frustration that she couldn't officially beat the boss, she had enjoyed this game, now it was gone. 

"I think Peridot can fix it?" Steven mentioned, hoping the green little gem would be savvy enough with earth tech to do such a thing for him.  
Connie shook her head.

"I still think going to an actual computer repair shop is better." Her slight push didn't do much to change Steven's mind, he only shrugged with a small smile. 

"Doesn't hurt to ask though?" And that was that. 

"A virus huh?" Peridot gleaned over the broken computer as it continuously spewed pop up after pop up until the whole thing was hot to the touch and slower than molasses. "I think I can work with that." 

"Great!" Steven beamed, glad that Peridot could come through once again with her superior technological skills. He smiled back at Connie and Spinel, though Spinel seemed slightly less excited than he had expected, she still provided a small smile through her tired eyes.

Connie bid the two of them farewell at the warp pad as they dissapeared, only to go the short distance from little homeworld to the beach house. 

"When we get rid of the virus, I can show you some other fun games I have!" Steven exclaimed to Spinel as she trailed a little slower behind him.  
She didn't reply. 

"Spinel?" Steven turned back to face the pink gem, but she wasn't exactly as pink as he last recalled. More like a dull pale with a slightly pink hue. Spinel hazily nodded, not entirely sure why she felt so slow all the sudden. 

Steven's eyes quickly turned from releif to worry in a near instant at the sight, he hadn't ever seen a gem lose their color in such a way, and was immediately disconcerted by it. 

"Are you okay?" He asked, taking a step closer. 

"Yeah, I'm fine." Spinel replied with a far less convincing smile than she had intended. Her voice was nasally, almost like she was congested. Could gems even get congested? Steven didn't even remotely believe her. Spinel also happened to be an abhorrent liar. A shudder ripped through her body and she felt far colder than a few moments earlier, but brushed it off with another smile.

"I think you're sick. Can gems get sick?" Steven asked, looking her up and down once more. She definitely didn't look normal, and she almost looked like she would pass out on the spot if she stood there long enough, lackadaisically swaying back and forth in a small attempt to remain upright.   
Spinel shook her head quickly, trying to make her brain work a little faster than it preferred to at the moment. 

"I'm fine really." She objected, raising her hands meekly to try and get the boy's growing worry to settle.   
Steven raised an eyebrow and pressed his hand to her forehead, he wasn't entirely sure if gems could have a fever but he wasn't about to grope her gemstone so he hoped a hot forehead would suffice.   
Spinel blinked, well, it was more alone g the lines of one eye closing at a time, before she registered that he was touching her and she backed up slightly. 

Sure enough, she was warm, and not it a condensed body of light kind of way. 

"Steven, I really am-" 

"Sick." He finished her sentence before she could and promptly sat her down on the couch, pulling a spare blanket from the shelves and draping it over her and moving into the kitchen, leaving her to slowly comprehend his actions. 

"When I get sick, Dad always makes me grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup, and then brings medicine to make me feel better." He explained from the kitchen. Spinel turned her head toward his voice but remained on the couch, suddenly feeling far too exhausted to move, so instead she relaxed until her limbs were stretched into a small pile on the floor.   
Steven sifted through the cabinets and pulled out bread, a can of soup and small bottle of viscous flu medicine before preparing the meal for his friend. He hadn't ever had to take care of a sick friend, but had plenty of experience being sick. 

"This will make you feel a little better, and you just have to wait it out- it usually only last a few days." He returned with a hot bowl of soup and a neatly sliced grilled cheese as well as the medicine, though he wasn't entirely sure what help it would do. Spinel meekly rejected the offer, it was bad enough that she broke his computer, and now she was taking his attention. Granted, she enjoyed it somewhat.   
The way he immediately dropped his train of thought just to make her feel better, it was a welcome occurence, though still tinged with that ever present burdensome feeling. 

Spinel had all but sunk into the couch, quietly sipping on the fourth hot tea Steven had provided while she lazily watched more reruns of the Crying Breakfast Friends. She felt somewhat better, maybe because her stomach was full of various soothing warm treats Steven had consistently provided her, almost waiting on her every whim. It was hard not to take advantage of the boy and his seemingly endless compassion. 

"Good news!" Steven called as he came in through the door carrying his computer under his arm. "Peridot got rid of the virus, so you can play some of those games while you get better." 

Spinel nodded slightly, but she saw the way Steven's brow furrowed with more worry. It had been three days, and she looked noticeably worse off than before. Spinel clearly was trying to hide it, but he could tell she was even slower moving and more pale than before. 

"How...long...is...this..su...pposed...to last?" She asked, Steven couldn't even hide his cringe at her dreadfully slow cadence. It was almost as if he were talking to the fusion Flourite, except this wasn't any sort of pleasantly drifting voice that reminded him of a grandmother. 

Steven sat down the repaired computer and rounded the coffee table to check her temperature once more. 

"You're getting worse." He whispered, usually after three days something like this would clear up for a human. Spinel wasn't a human though.   
Spinel looked down into her might of tea, unable to look at the fear in his eyes. She just wanted whatever this was to be over. 

"When...do...I...TRY OUT OUR NEW BACKSCRATCHER BUY ONE GET ONE FREE!" Steven jolted, taken aback by Spinel's sudden and very loud interest in back scratchers. The words were so disconnected from her voice that she couldn't tell if they actually came from her mouth. It wasn't what she intended to say at all. 

Steven stared at her for a moment, still unsure if what happened actually happened at all. The surealness of it all had completely thrown him off. Spinel's face twisted into a shocked frown before she opened her mouth to speak again. 

"YOU JUST WON 1 MILLION DOLLARS, CLICK HERE TO RECEIVE IT!" 

What?! That wasn't what she wanted to say at all! How could her mouth betray her so suddenly. She blinked, glancing at Steven before her face contorted into confused horror. It took a moment, before Steven registered what was going on. He quickly tore the blanket off of her and grabbed her hand, pulling the spaghettified gem from her spot and dragging her up the stairs toward the warp pad. 

"YOUR ACCOUNT HAS BEEN HACKED!!" Spinel shouted, though she fully intended to say 'Steven, I don't know what's happening!' Obviously, that didn't work the way she hoped it would.  
Steven would laugh, if what was going on wasn't so viscerally terrifying. Somehow, she had come down with the same malware that his computer had.

Steven hauled the snailpased gem toward Peridot's home as soon as they left the warp, Spinel screetching vocally obnoxious ads with growing distress as they neared. He had absolutely no idea what she was saying, and the nonsensical audible pop ups only seemed to worsen as they approached. 

"PERIDOT!" Steven cried, bursting through the door with Spinel's hand flopping in his grasp. The rest of her was a good twenty feet behind, still very slowly running behind him.   
Peridot spun around in astonishment at his sudden and frantic return. 

"Spinel has that virus I need you to fix it!" He explained, stepping outside for a moment to pull the noodled gem inside. 

"What?" Peridot shrieked in reply, half out of confusion and half out of distress. She hadn't ever heard of a gem getting a virus- aside from corruption.   
Steven quickly planted the pale pink, sick gem in front of her to inspect. 

"HOT SINGLES IN YOUR AREA!!" Spinel exclaimed, slowly waving her overly stretched arms in attempt to convey her stress. Peridot stared at her, unable to make anything from what she said before turning to Steven. 

"How did this happen?!" She asked.

"THE PRINCE OF NIGERIA WANTS TO SEND YOU MONEY!" Spinel replied, despite the enthusiasm of her voice she slumped forward and whimpered softly, tears brimming in her eyes.   
This was her fault. She knew it. And she couldn't even come clean about it. 

"I don't know, she was sick for a few days- I thought she'd get better but I don't know how to fix it!" Steven exclaimed, glancing worriedly at Spinel who was very clearly on the verge of an emotional breakdown. 

"BECOME A CERTIFIED PASTOR IN EIGHT DAYS!" She sobbed.

"I don't know what you're saying!" Steven cried, beginning to pace as he tried to think of a solution, this wasn't normal, not for people, and definitely not for gems! What if he couldn't fix her?! What if she could only ever yell obscenely obnoxious advertising for the rest of her life?! What if he broke her forever- all because he wanted to play a stupid free game? 

"And you came to me?! I'm not a gem what is it- repairer! I don't know how to fix this!" Peridot joined him in his frantic pacing, trying to think of some kind of solution. 

"MAKE A MILLiooonnn dollars in....siiiiixx.........mmmmmooooooonnnnttttthhhhhssss...." Spinel's loud rambling advertisement slowed to a creeping still as her form began to glitch compulsively, the heat of her gemstone radiating through it and causing a noticeable shift in temperature. Peridot screamed in terror at the sight of the pink gem flickering through gaudy bright colors. 

"Do something she's overheating!" 

Steven had to think fast, as fast as he could make himself with his jumbled and racing thoughts, and quickly spat in his hand and slapped the burning heart shaped gem. It nearly scalded his fingers and almost evaporated his only option of fixing her. 

Spinel's form slowed its terrifying glitching, intermittently flickering until her form slowly resembled itself again and she stood there staring at Steven whose hand was still firmly pressed against her gemstone.   
Her eyes flickered down at it, noticing how red and blistered it had become upon contact. He retracted it almost as quickly as she looked at it, licking it himself to heal the burns. 

Peridot's screaming stopped and she lowered her hands from her head, loosening the grip she held on her hair. 

"Did you fix her?" 

They stared at Spinel, who looked far more full of color now, waiting for her to speak. Spinel persed her lips in anticipation, hoping that what she wanted to say would be said. 

"I don't like computer games." 

The three of them made an audible sigh of relief at her words, the relief of the innocuous sentence washing over all of them at once and allowing them to relax.   
Steven couldn't hold back the tears in his eyes any longer and if he had been less accosted by the potential- literal burnout of his friend, he would smacked himself in the head for being so blind to his own ability to heal.   
Instead, he grabbed Spinel and pulled her close, ignoring that she was still cooling down from a solar level fever. 

"Spinel I'm so sorry, I'm so so sorry- I should have just healed you, I should have-" he was cut off by her arms slowly wrapping around him, clutching him tightly. It was okay. She was okay. 

That's all that mattered.


End file.
